


When it Rains (It Pours)

by Brioux



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Future Fic, Get Together, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-06
Updated: 2016-12-06
Packaged: 2018-09-06 23:19:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8773438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brioux/pseuds/Brioux
Summary: Maybe there's a reason Holster feels so protective over Ransom all the time.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HunterusHeroicus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HunterusHeroicus/gifts).



> Swawesome Santa Prompt: After graduation, either Ransom or Holster realizes they have feelings about the other.

Holster doesn’t like Ransom’s new school. Logically he always knew med school was going to be a lot harder than undergrad, even for someone as smart as Ransom. But Holster takes personal offense when he has to take extensive care of his coral reef about once a week, rather than the once a semester like at Samwell.

It’s not like he doesn’t mind taking care of Ransom. It’s part of who Adam Birkholtz is, at this point. Death, taxes, and taking care of Justin Oluransi. Or whatever that phrase is.

It’s just unfair, in Holster’s eyes, that this school is practically killing Ransom like this. He’s spent the past three Saturdays in a row completely zoned out at the kitchen table. And he’s spent too many nights to count staring at either his textbooks or his laptop. They haven’t had an actual meal together in about two months (some days Holster thinks Ransom doesn’t eat at all). They haven’t watched a hockey game together since the Falconers played the Aces last month, and even then he knows Ransom’s mind was on how he should have been studying. Half the time, Holster never even sees Ransom because he’s holed up in the library on campus or in his room.

Bottom line, it sucks.

In all fairness, it’s not like Holster’s really been around a lot lately, either. His new job is a bit of a drive from their apartment, and being the low man on the totem pole at the accounting firm means he gets most of the shitty jobs that entail staying late at the office some nights. He typically leaves around six each morning, and doesn’t get home until almost six in the evening. Twelve hours of the day gone, and that only leaves him around four or five hours to spend at home before he has to go to bed, or risk being a cranky sourpuss the next morning. Or worse, sleeping through his alarm and being late to work.

Basically, Holster’s complaints all revolve around one thing. He really misses his best friend. They went from spending just about every moment together for four years to practically never hanging out at all, despite still living in the same place. Holster misses coming home from class and being able to snuggle up with Ransom for their joint afternoon nap. He misses watching a movie together on the bus to an away game, their whole bodies pressed against each other so they can both see Ransom’s iPad. He misses the relaxed, fun energy that came with playing Mario Kart, when Ransom would sit on him just to get a little advantage. He misses letting loose at a kegster and hanging on Ransom. He misses quiet breakfasts at the kitchen table, their ankles hooked around each other under the table.

It’s not fair, okay? Ransom is supposed to be Holster’s best friend and yet they don’t get to do any of their best friend things anymore. Because Holster’s job has him working more than forty hours every week, and Ransom’s school is slowly sucking the life out of him.

Holster has to do something to change this perpetual rut they’re in. He has to break up the monotony of their days. So he does a little research and decides to do something crazy. Easter is coming up, and his company has off for the long weekend. So does Ransom’s school. He checks with Ransom’s family first, then his own, and then makes his moves.

The last minute flights and the condo from VRBO basically wipe out his entire signing bonus and a lot of the money he has saved up, but he knows it’s going to be worth it. At least, he hopes so.

Holster picks a night where Ransom seems about as relaxed as possible. He’s just finished a huge paper and doesn’t have another exam to study for until next week. He’s actually sitting in front of the television for the first time in what feels like months, and Holster knows this is the best time to drop the vacation bomb.

“Hey,” he says softly, not wanting to startle Ransom.

“Hey babe,” Ransom says with a smile, opening his arms for Holster to snuggle into them. “Missed you.”

“Yeah,” Holster agrees, sagging immediately into Ransom’s embrace.

It’s like an immediate relief of tension. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath in. The smell of Ransom’s shampoo calms even the deepest part of the ache he’s been feeling, and Ransom’s hand in his hair makes him feel like he’s going to fall asleep. It’s almost too easy, how how lets go of all the negativity as soon as he’s in Ransom’s arms.

There was something he had to do. Something he had to tell Ransom. He just…can’t remember what it is right now. Not with the way his breaths are matching Ransom’s and how he feels so safe, so secure with Ransom’s arms around him. The whole would could probably burn down around them, but Holster wouldn’t notice. Because in this moment, everything feels right again.

“I have a break coming up,” Ransom mumbles in his ear, breaking the moment. “Let’s do something together, eh?”

Oh, right. That’s what Holster had to talk to him about.

“I booked us a vacation,” he says, opening his heavy eyelids to look up into Ransom’s face.

Ransom pulls back and Holster has to sit up quickly or risk falling face-first into the couch.

“You what?” he asks.

“I booked us a vacation,” Holster explains, swallowing and shaking the residual bonelessness from his body so he’s more alert. “Over Easter weekend. We leave Thursday night and get back Sunday night.”

“To where?” Ransom asks.

“St. Petersberg, Florida,” Holster says. “We have a condo that’s a block from the beach. And there’s a pool.”

“Holst,” Ransom says, his voice really soft. “Why?”

“Because you need it,” Holster explains carefully. “You’re so stressed out, babe. You need a long weekend away. Get into the sun and relax a little bit.”

Ransom doesn’t say anything, but pulls Holster into his chest and runs his hands down Holster’s back. His heart is beating fast under Holster’s cheek, and Holster is a bit nervous he overstepped his boundaries or something.

“You’re the best,” Ransom says after a moment, silencing Holster’s worries.

Holster snuggles his face into Ransom’s chest in response, and lets Ransom hold him for the rest of the night. He did good.

Two weeks later, they’re both beyond ready to get started on their vacation. Ransom has had two more exams and another paper due, and Holster has been putting in even longer hours than normal, what with tax season coming up. They’re both looking forward to the trip, though. Holster keeps finding photos of beaches stuck to the refrigerator.

Despite all the hype, the trip ends up being horrible. No, seriously. It’s by far the worst trip either of them have ever been on.

Their flight gets delayed almost three hours on the way there, but they’re already on the plane by the time the workers realize there’s a problem. So not only are they delayed, but they’re stuck sitting on the tarmac the entire time. Ransom is in the window seat, Holster is in the middle, and there’s a severely overweight man in the aisle who definitely does not know what deodorant is.

By the time they finally make it to St. Petersberg, they’re well into prime Uber time, which means their ride from the airport to the condo costs about twice as much as Holster expected it to. So now they’re going to have to choose between snorkeling Saturday afternoon and the whale watching trip on Sunday morning before their flight home.

They have troubles getting the condo key from the rental agency because they’re so much later than expected and by the time they make it to the condo, they’re so exhausted they don’t even want to really do anything. They decide to walk to multiple local restaurants, but find that even though it’s only Thursday night, there’s an average two-hour wait everywhere they go. So they end up stopping at the grocery store and just buying the stuff to make a spaghetti dinner for themselves.

That night, they also find out that there’s only one bed in the entire condo. Apparently the last renters broke the second bed. So now they have to share a full. Which honestly isn’t even that big of a deal, they’ve shared beds plenty of times. It’s just frustrating that this is supposed to be a relaxing vacation and they’re two giant men sharing a full bed. The owner is at least willing to reimburse a little bit of their money, though. For their troubles.

The next day they promise is going to be better. Ransom calls one of the restaurants they really want to go to almost as soon as they wake up and books a reservation. It’ll be good.

But then Ransom ends up stepping on a rock in the ocean and cutting open his foot (he doesn’t need stitches, fortunately he has steri strips in his bag and can take care of it himself). And they both end up with sand absolutely everywhere. It’s definitely not the good start to the day they were hoping for.

Dinner is delicious, which is really good because honestly at this point they’re both ready to give up. It’s a little tough for Ransom to walk to the restaurant, though, despite it only being a few blocks. So they get an Uber for the ride back.

Saturday they decide to stay away from the beach. They can see from their window there’s already a hoard of children and honestly they’re still trying to get sand out of the places where it’s not supposed to be. Plus sand and Ransom’s open wound doesn’t sound like a good combination. So they hang out at the pool instead.

Holster gets a ridiculous sunburn, and it’s the first time he’s gotten burnt in probably a decade. But at this point, neither of them are too surprised. Not a single thing has gone right, and it’s just fitting that one more thing has to go wrong.

As Ransom is rubbing some aloe into Holster’s back, Holster can’t help but feel responsible for all of this. All he wanted to do was make this weekend relaxing for Ransom, give them both a short break from the monotony of their lives and let them have some fun together. But it’s just been one thing after another.

Sensing his frustration, Ransom finishes rubbing his back and instead of letting him up, lays down on top of Holster’s body.

“Don’t blame yourself for this,” he says.

Holster huffs into the pillow under his head.

“Seriously,” Ransom says, digging his thumb into the tight muscles in Holster’s shoulders. “You aren’t responsible for any of this.”

“Pretty shitty vacation I planned, though,” he mumbles.

“Did you break the plane?” Ransom asks. Holster doesn't respond, so Ransom pulls away and flips him over on his back. “Hey, I’m serious,” he says, straddling Holster’s lap. “Did you break the plane? Did you know all the restaurants would be that full the first night here? Did you plan on us only having one bed? Did you put that stupid rock in the ocean and make me step on it?”

“No,” Holster says, pouting.

“No, you didn’t. The only thing you did, besides plan what was meant to be a really nice vacation, was fall asleep in the sun and forget to reapply your sunscreen.”

Holster bites his lip and Ransom looks down at him fondly.

“You’re still the best friend I’ve ever had, babe,” he says. “You planned all of this because you knew I needed to get away. You care so much and yeah, maybe this hasn’t gone the way we wanted it to. But that doesn’t mean it’s been a bad vacation. I’m still with you, Adam.”

It’s the use of his first name that has Holster really paying attention to what Ransom is saying. He only uses Adam when he’s really serious.

“I love you,” Holster says softly.

And, yeah. They’ve said those words a million times to each other before. On the ice, during kegsters, before bed, after they crossed the stage and received their diplomas. It’s no secret that they love each other. But in this moment, Holster knows that he’s not just saying it as a friend. He really, truly, loves Justin Oluransi. He’s in love with him. And based on the look Ransom is giving him, he feels like maybe his feelings aren’t unrequited.

The feeling of Ransom’s lips against his for the first time makes up for every shitty thing that’s happened to them so far this weekend. It makes up for every minute of unpaid overtime he’s worked this year, every frustrating client he’s had to deal with. It makes up for every anxiety attack he’s had to rescue Ransom from since the start of med school, and every meal he’s eaten alone because Ransom is too busy or too stressed to eat. It makes up for so many months of feeling isolated from his best friend.

This may have started off as the Worst Vacation Ever, but with Ransom’s tongue in his mouth and hands in his hair, today will officially go down in history as the greatest day in Adam Birkholtz’s life. And hey, they still have whale watching tomorrow morning.


End file.
